Cable machine

ABSTRACT

A machine for manufacturing cables includes a winch that includes a tube, which includes at least a pulley, a reducer and an input shaft to the reducer in its interior. A system for attaching the reducer includes two concentric bearings. An outer bearing is attached to the reducer and the tube, and an inner bearing is attached to the pulley and outer bearing, such that the pulley is supported by the inner bearing and by bearings of the input shaft of the reducer.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to European Patent Application No.18382227.9 filed on Apr. 3, 2018, the disclosure of which including thespecification, the drawings, and the claims is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to machines for manufacturing cables and,more specifically, to machines for manufacturing cables and comprising arotary winch.

Said winch comprises a tube, which can have a large diameter, forexample of up to 1.5 metres, rotating at high speeds, typically in theorder of up to 650 rpm. Said tube must comprise in the interior thereofpower generation or transmission elements, despite the lack of space.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Various challenges arise when arranging power elements, for example areducer, in the space inside the tube of a winch. In particular, thesystem for attaching said power elements must:

-   -   withstand the high stresses in the pulley and in the input shaft        of the reducer produced by centrifugal forces,    -   withstand the high tensile force produced by the drive belt from        the motor,    -   withstand the gyroscopic torque resulting from the rotation of        the rotor and the rotation of the input shaft of the reducer,        since both rotate with respect to perpendicular axes.

According to the prior art, these problems can be solved by providingtwo pulleys, one on each side of the reducer. This has the disadvantagethat space is further reduced and is brought out of alignment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to disclose attachment means inside thetube of a rotary winch for a machine for manufacturing cables whichovercomes the aforementioned challenges, increasing the service life ofthe attachment system and/or allowing greater rotational speeds of thewinch.

For this purpose, the present invention discloses a machine formanufacturing cables which comprises a winch which, in turn, comprises atube comprising in the interior thereof at least a pulley, a reducer andan input shaft to the reducer, characterised in that the system forattaching the reducer comprises two concentric bearings, the outerbearing being attached to the pulley and the tube, and the inner bearingbeing attached to the pulley and the outer bearing, such that the pulleyis supported by said inner bearing and by bearings of said input shaftof the reducer.

The present invention provides statically indeterminate bearing supportfor the pulley, which prevents premature wear of the bearings of thepulley which would otherwise occur for the above-mentioned reasons, andin particular as a result of the gyroscopic torque.

The present invention allows for there to be a single pulley connectedto the reducer.

Preferably, the outer bearing and the inner bearing are in differentplanes.

Preferably, too, the outer bearing is connected to the reducer by theouter face thereof, and to the tube by the inner face thereof.

Preferably, the inner bearing and the outer bearing are attached to oneanother between the outer face of inner bearing and the outer face ofthe outer bearing.

More preferably, the inner bearing and the outer bearing are attached toone another by means of a structure that attaches the outer bearing tothe tube.

On account of the improved performance and longer service life of thesystem for attaching the internal components of the winch according tothe invention, it is possible to increase the operating speed of thewinch to more than 650 rpm, and preferably to 850 rpm.

In the present invention, when it is stated that a first component isattached to a second component, this means that both components arefunctionally attached to one another during normal operation of themachine, either directly or by means of structures intended forconnecting both components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To aid understanding, an explanatory yet non-limiting drawing isincluded of an embodiment of the machine according to the invention.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a detail of the upper portion of awinch of a machine for manufacturing cables according to the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The FIGURE shows the upper portion of an upper section of the tube -1-of a winch -20- according to the present invention.

In said FIGURE, two bearings -2-, -3- are shown which are mutuallyconcentric. In particular, both bearings are ball bearings. The outerbearing -2- is attached, by the outer face thereof, to the reducer -10-and, by the inner face thereof, to the inner face of the tube -1-.

In turn, the inner bearing -3- is attached to the pulley -11- by theinner face thereof and to the outer bearing -2- by the outer face of theinner bearing -3-. In particular, in the example, the inner bearing isattached to the structure -14- that attaches the outer bearing -2- tothe tube -1-. According to another aspect, the inner bearing -3- isattached to the inner face of the outer bearing -2-.

As shown, both bearings -2-, -3- are in different planes. Morespecifically, the inner bearing -3- is raised with respect to the outerbearing -2-.

As shown, the pulley -11- is held on the inner bearing -3- by means of acorresponding structure and on the bearings -13- of the input shaft -12-of the reducer -10-.

As shown in the FIGURES, the outer and inner bearings, the pulley andthe reducer are connected according to the specifications indicatedabove, either by means of direct abutment or by means of structuralcomponents of which the purpose is to carry out the assigned attachingfunction. Said structures are connected by abutment, welding and/orscrewing, as shown in the FIGURES.

In the present invention, when it is stated that a bearing is attachedto two components, this means that each of said components is connectedto one of the parts of the bearing that are in relative movement (suchas the faces of a ball bearing).

Although the invention has been set out and described with reference toembodiments thereof, it should be understood that these do not limit theinvention, and that it is possible to alter many structural or otherdetails that may prove obvious to persons skilled in the art afterinterpreting the subject matter disclosed in the present description,claims and drawings. Therefore, the scope of the present inventionincludes any variant or equivalent that could be considered covered bythe broadest range of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A machine for manufacturing cables, comprising awinch which in turn comprises a tube comprising in an interior thereofat least a pulley, a reducer and an input shaft to the reducer, whereinthe system for attaching the reducer comprises two concentric bearingsbeing an outer bearing and an inner bearing, the outer bearing beingattached to the reducer and the tube, and the inner bearing beingattached to the pulley and the outer bearing, such that the pulley isheld on said inner bearing and on shaft bearings of said input shaft ofthe reducer.
 2. The machine according to claim 1, wherein the outerbearing and the inner bearing are in different planes.
 3. The machineaccording to claim 1, wherein the outer bearing is connected to thereducer by an outer face thereof, and to the tube by the inner facethereof.
 4. The machine according to claim 1, wherein the inner bearingand the outer bearing are attached to one another between an outer faceof the inner bearing and the outer face of the outer bearing.
 5. Themachine according to claim 1, wherein the inner bearing and the outerbearing are attached to one another by means of a structure thatattaches the outer bearing to the tube.
 6. The machine according toclaim 1, wherein a nominal rotational speed of the winch is greater than650 rpm.
 7. The machine according to claim 1, wherein both the innerbearing and the outer bearing are ball bearings.
 8. The machineaccording to claim 1, wherein the machine comprises a single pulleyconnected to the reducer.